Mayo Clinic in the News Weekly Highlights for June 21, 2019

Washington Post, A rare skin disease left a man isolated and alone. Surgery is helping to give him back his life. by Lindsey Bever — Dusica Babovic-Vuksanovic, a physician who specializes in genetic syndromes and leads the Neurofibromatosis Clinic at the Mayo Clinic, said neurofibromatosis is rare, affecting 1 in about 3,000 people in the United States. Babovic-Vuksanovic said the disorder is difficult to manage because it can present in different forms and on different parts of the body, causing usually benign but sometimes rapid-growing tumors to form on nerve tissue. It can cause disfigurement, muscular and skeletal problems, nerve damage and pain. In rare cases, she said, the growths can develop into cancerous tumors. In cases in which there appears to be excessive skin, Babovic-Vuksanovic said that extra tissue is usually associated with a tumor known as plexiform neurofibroma. Treatment for neurofibromatosis is temporary and typically involves surgery, but Babovic-Vuksanovic said a clinical trial is underway at Mayo Clinic and other larger medical centers for a medication that may help shrink the tumors.

Washington Post, Laughter really is the best medicine? In many ways, that’s no joke. by Marlene Cimons — “When people are funny, they attract other people, and community connectedness is the social currency for longevity,” says Edward Creagan, professor of medical oncology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. “Nobody wants to be around negative, whiny people. It’s a drain. We’re attracted to funny people.” Laughter stimulates the body’s organs by increasing oxygen intake to the heart, lungs and muscles, and stimulates the brain to release more endorphins, according to the Mayo Clinic. It also helps people handle stress by easing tension, relaxing the muscles and lowering blood pressure. It relieves pain, and improves mood. Laughter also strengthens the immune system. “When we laugh, it decreases the level of the evil stress hormone cortisol,” Creagan says.

Washington Post, Why your emotions and senses go haywire on
a plane by Hannah Sampson — …Background noise is a constant, says Clayton
Cowl, chair of the division of preventive, occupational and aerospace medicine
at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. "There's a lot of white noise in a plane,” he
says. “It’s not at a frequency type that would cause hearing loss, but it
certainly is something that over time your senses adapt to.”… “For most
travelers — the vast, vast majority of travelers — the body’s adaptation to
flight is a seamless process, and we all know that most of the time, it’s not a
big deal,” Cowl says. “There are a few subtle adaptations that we do when we’re
flying that we’re not aware of. The body’s amazing; it does accommodate.”

New
York Times, Diagnosis: The Man’s Blood Pressure
Dropped, and He Was Acting Strange. What Was Going On? by Lisa Sanders,
M.D. — … What kind of disease could cause both
neurological and psychiatric symptoms? … two weeks after the man’s first
seizure, the doctor got the answer he’d been looking for. It came from the Mayo
Clinic in Rochester, Minn., one of the few labs able to test for
immune-mediated diseases of the brain. He had an autoimmune encephalopathy; his
symptoms were caused by an antibody that was first described in 2000, called
Caspr2. The disorder caused by this rogue antibody is usually seen in men over
65 who, like this patient, develop fluctuations in blood pressure or heart
rate, changes in personality, insomnia and problems with balance. The patient was relieved to finally get a name
for his strange collection of symptoms. He and his wife flew to the Mayo Clinic
to start the treatment. His improvement has been slow, and even after three
years, he isn’t fully recovered.

Reuters, Father's
smoking during pregnancy tied to asthma in kids by Lisa Rapaport — This
suggests that the risk of asthma from tobacco exposure is unlike allergic
asthma, which is driven by allergies or allergic sensitization via IgE
antibody, said Dr. Avni Joshi, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic Children’s
Center in Rochester, Minnesota, who wasn’t involved in the study. The study
wasn’t designed to prove whether or how prenatal smoking exposure might
directly cause so-called epigenetic changes, or how those changes cause asthma
in children...Still, the message to parents should be clear, Joshi said by email.
Additional coverage: Physician’s
Weekly

Reuters, Burnout
Nation: How companies are de-stressing workforces by Chris Taylor — No
matter who you are or what you do, let me take a wild guess: You feel a little
burned out right now. Was I right? If so, you are one of the two-thirds of
Americans who report feeling burned out on the job, according to a recent Gallup
poll. That breaks down into 23 percent who are burned out very often or always,
and another 44 percent who feel that way sometimes. Those numbers are
epidemic…Across the nation for physicians it is even worse: a whopping 54
percent, according to Mayo Clinic researchers.

NBC News, Patient dies
from fecal transplant containing drug-resistant bacteria by Sara G. Miller — While the FDA offers guidance
on the procedure, there is not a standardized protocol for what infectious
agents donors and their stool should be tested for, said Dr. Sahil Khanna, a
gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic who performs fecal transplants. Khanna
called the patient death from a fecal transplant "heartbreaking." He
told NBC News that Mayo Clinic was not involved with the two cases described by
the FDA. To Khanna's knowledge, this is the first report of a death linked to
FMT. "When we talk about FMT for treating C. diff, we say it has the
potential to save lives," he said. Additional coverage:Business
Insider

CBS News, Once
afraid of IVs, girl invents teddy bear pouches to hide them by Christopher
Brito — A 12-year-old girl from Connecticut is using her own experience with
IVs to help other kids undergo treatments with a friendlier face. Ella Casano,
who has an autoimmune disease, covers IVs with a teddy bear and she now wants
to donate her "stuffed animal pouch" called Medi Teddy to young
patients. Casano was diagnosed with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (ITP)
when she was seven years old, her business website said. According to the Mayo
Clinic, ITP happens when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys
platelets, which are cell fragments that help blood clot.

Good
Housekeeping, Is It an Anxiety Attack or a Panic Attack?
Here’s How to Know, According to Experts by Stephanie Dolgoff — In
contrast, those who have anxiety attacks tend to carry around a low level of
anxiety most of the time. The feeling of anxiousness ramps up during an attack
and then eventually (anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks) it settles
back down to a normal-for-them level. Generally, panic attacks have more severe
physical symptoms, whereas anxiety attacks are more of a "slow burn,"
says Craig Sawchuk, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the Mayo Clinic in
Rochester, Minnesota. So why the confusion? Because panic attacks and anxiety
attacks overlap in a few ways, and some unlucky people experience both. Plus,
people use the terms interchangeably. "When people say ‘I’m having a panic
attack,’ ‘I’m having an anxiety attack,’ or just ‘I’m freaking out,’ we know
what they mean," says Sawchuk. "The question is, at what point do
either one meet clinical criteria?"

Modern
Healthcare, 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives –
2019 — The 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives program (previously 50
Most Influential Physicians Executives and Leaders) honors physicians working
in the healthcare industry who are deemed by their peers and an expert panel to
be the most influential in terms of demonstrating leadership and impact. It
took power to make reform happen; now, it will take influential leaders to make
reform work… Rank: 21 — Dr. Gianrico Farrugia, President and CEO, Mayo Clinic.

Post-Bulletin, What's
the story with WuXi? by Jeff Kiger —
Despite the name coming up often in national and international business and
political news, there hasn't been any details yet about a joint venture that
Mayo Clinic has with a leading Chinese pharma and biotech company based in
Shanghai. New WuXi Life Science Investment Limited and Mayo Clinic formed WuXi
Diagnostics in early 2018 as a joint venture...Dr. William Morice, chair of the
Mayo Clinic Dept. of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and president of Mayo
Medical Laboratories, was interviewed at the 2018 WuXi Global Forum by WuXi
AppTec Communications about the next milestones for joint venture. "The
near-term milestone honestly has to be to build a solid foundation from which
to grow between the two organizations. It’s really exciting to take a vibrant
and vast-growing company like WuXi and marry it with a very established
institution like Mayo. We also want to look ahead and understand how to
leverage the strengths of both organizations early on to transfer
knowledge," Morice was quoted as stating.

Post-Bulletin, Mayo
seeks applications for Shared Value Award by Sara Dingmann — Mayo Clinic is
seeking applicants for its Shared Value Award, which provides funds to a
collaborative project that addresses social challenges that affect health in
Olmsted county. From the qualifying pool of applicants, three finalists will be
selected by Mayo Clinic's Contributions Committee, and the winner will be
determined by Olmsted County community members through online voting. Voting
takes place online and will be available from Aug. 30 until Oct. 21.

KIMT, Mayo
again ranked one of the best children’s hospitals by Mike Bunge — Mayo Clinic Children’s
Center is once again named one of the best children’s hospitals by U.S. News
and World Report… "Our ranking among
the top children's hospitals reinforces our commitment to delivering quality
care to children and their families not only through cutting-edge
interventions, such as the Fetal Care Center, proton beam therapy for childhood
cancer, and stem cell treatment in clinical trials for children with heart
disease, but also through the integrated, multispecialty team approach for
children with health problems of all kinds," says Dr. Randall Flick,
medical director of Mayo Clinic Children's Center. "We are very proud of
this ranking and credit our staff who continue to strive for excellence and
improve patient care for the millions of patients we treat each year from
around the world."

KIMT, Dream
it and achieve it: Chris Norton wheelchair camp shows kids, families what is
possible by Annalise Johnson — The message is simple: never give up. At no
cost to families, the Chris Norton Foundation is hosting a wheelchair camp at
Ironwood Springs Christian Ranch for kids who use wheelchairs and their
families. Chris Norton suffered a severe spinal cord injury at age 18 while
playing football for Luther College in Decorah. He was transported to the Mayo
Clinic and was told he had a 3% chance of ever regaining movement and feeling
below his neck. Since then, Norton has continued to defy the odds. Videos of
him walking went viral. First, with his then-fiancé Emily to receive his Luther
College diploma, and again with Emily at their wedding ceremony.

KTTC, Relationship
between the Mayo Clinic and Sisters of Saint Francis gains new chapter —
The Sisters of Saint Francis gathered at the new Hilton hotel Tuesday
afternoon, to view the new meeting rooms dedicated to them. The partnership
between Mayo Clinic and the sisters dates back to the hospital’s beginnings,
and the sisters say they are glad to keep the time honored connection going.
They got a tour of the new Hilton, while cutting the ribbon to the new
Franciscan meeting rooms. Ramona Miller, the Sisters of Saint Francis
President, says it’s wonderful to be in the new hotel, seeing the rooms named
after them, feeling a sense of pride. Additional
coverage: FOX 47

Star Tribune, Twin Cities companies have a lot riding on FDA's decision on
drug-coated stents by Joe Carlson — Amid the uncertainty, hospitals across
the country — including Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis — have cut back on
using the paclitaxel-eluting stents for the legs —an intervention that had been
rapidly gaining in popularity before the specter of early death was raised. The
Mayo Clinic recently imposed a voluntary moratorium on all paclitaxel-eluting
devices for the legs.

Star Tribune, Mankato doctor recognized for nutrition work by Brian Arola — For
Dr. Ryan Brower, food is medicine. Coming to Mankato three years ago, the
family medicine resident at Mayo Clinic Health System's Eastridge clinic
brought a passion for nutrition with him. He's since centered his work both in
clinic and the community around building people's understanding of how healthy
eating fits within a patient's pursuit of overall wellness, the Mankato Free
Press reported. The work earned him state recognition this year, with the
Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians naming him the 2019 family medicine
resident of the year. Brower gave credit for the award to the residency program
he's in, and the people who advise and work alongside him. Additional coverage: Associated Press

First Coast
News, Double lung transplant recipient
honoring donor with each new breath
by Lindsey Boetsch — When you wake up in the morning, you're breathing. When
you go to bed, you're breathing. It's something we don't think about. But,
33-year-old Maria Sanchez has struggled with Cystic Fibrosis her whole life and
the task of breathing was not easy for her.
Now, she's joined the rest of us in not worrying about her next breath.
You become desperate," Sanchez said. "And you know that the time is
coming. Where the inevitable, death, is knocking at your door." She was diagnosed with CF when she was just
a baby. Unfortunately, the disease progressed. It got to the point where her
tuneups took longer and she wasn't able to bounce back as quick.

Arizona
Republic, Increasing red meat consumption tied to
higher risk of early death, study says by Ryan Miller — Heather Fields, an
internal medicine specialist at Mayo Clinic, told CNN that the study
contributes to a growing body of research that shows the potential negative
effects of eating more red meat. "Keeping these findings in mind, we can
now shift focus on which foods we can add to the diet to improve longevity and
decrease risk of chronic diseases," she said. Fields was not involved in
the study. Additional coverage: USA Today

AZ Family, Mayo
Clinic Sports Medicine gets players back on the field by Heidi Goitia — Few
things can rattle a young athlete's confidence like a serious injury, which is
why it's so important the injury is taken care of quickly and thoroughly. That
combination is what got Pinnacle High School football player Anthony Ament back
on the field in near record time. Ament has been playing football since he was
little and hopes to one day go pro. So when he got hurt about a year ago, he
feared the worst... But the Mayo Clinic's doctor Anikar Chhabra was a game
changer. He performed a successful ACL repair and took on Ament's mental
treatment just as aggressively.

KEYC Mankato, Previous
patients of Mayo Clinic Health System Mankato share their stories at award
luncheon — Tuesday, previous patients of Mayo Clinic Health System Mankato
shared their stories at a luncheon. That includes one man who chose to undergo
a relatively new procedure for a hernia operation. It's something John Tanke
knew was coming for a long time. His family has a history of hernia operations.
When doctors told him about the da Vinci Surgical System, a robot, controlled
by a surgeon, that can perform surgery, he decided it was the right option for
him.

KEYC Mankato, What’s happening at the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota this summer by Kelsey Barchenger — Join Mayo Clinic Health System providers and Museum staff to learn more about safe summer habits: sun safety, hydration, bike safety, and more! Bring your bike helmet, decorate it, and get it fitted. Get your car seat checked by a certified car seat technician, sample infused water, and enter your name in a drawing for a new bike helmet. This event is developed in partnership with Mayo Clinic Health System and is free to the public. The event does not grant access to Museum indoor and outdoor exhibits; daily admission and Museum membership required.

Austin Daily
Herald, Senior
center hosting seminar on changes in sleep patterns with doctor from Mayo by
Sara Schafer — Have you ever had problems sleeping? Along with the other
changes that happen as we get older, changes in sleep patterns are part of the
aging process. At 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dr. Kubas will be here from the Mayo
Clinic to enlighten us and answer questions about sleep. It is normal as we age
to have a harder time falling asleep and more trouble staying asleep than when
we were younger. Although it is a common belief that we need less sleep as we
age, in fact our sleep needs are consistent throughout adulthood.

Chippewa
Herald, Mayo Clinic in Menomonie awards
scholarships — Five
graduating seniors from area high schools recently received $500 scholarships
from Mayo Clinic Health System–Red Cedar in Menomonie to pursue education in a
health care-related field.

Red Wing
Republican Eagle, Aneurysm survivor donates blood at
every opportunity by Michael Brun
— Janelle Nordine said she is blessed to be alive. The Prescott woman survived a brain aneurysm
and stroke 16 years ago. Today she said she is doing well and living her life
to the fullest. Part of that is helping ensure others can live their lives,
too. The 64-year-old is a prolific blood donor. For the past few years, she
said she has given blood around every eight weeks — as frequently as the rules
allow… Nordine, then 48 years old, said she was at church around Christmas time
when the pain started. "I got the most horrific headache," she
recalled. "It was indescribable."…Nordine said doctors quickly
determined she was experiencing a ruptured aneurysm. That's when a bulging
blood vessel bursts and bleeds into the brain. She was airlifted to Mayo Clinic
in Rochester where she also had a stroke.’

La Crosse
Tribune, Blanket donation to La Crosse hospitals
brings family fullcircle by
Kyle Farris — “A couple older ladies brought the blanket in on a cart, and it
was the first time I smiled that whole time,” Fortun said Wednesday, 12 years
removed from her son Carter’s heart operations. “Knowing that someone else
cared enough to make that blanket … was such a big light for me. When I got
home, I said that I need to do that for other people.” Fortun, who teaches
sixth-grade language arts at Onalaska Middle School, has spent the past 12 years
doing exactly that. She and her students have made and donated more than 1,000
tie blankets — gifts meant to comfort those who desperately need some. Wednesday
brought the family’s story full circle. Fortun and Carter, who just finished
sixth grade, hauled nearly 50 blankets to Mayo Clinic Health System in La
Crosse, a day after they did the same at Gundersen. Additional coverage:WKBT La
Crosse

La Crosse
Tribune, Big Blue Dragon Boat Festival returns
Saturday in La Crosse's Copeland Park by Emily Pyrek — A seven-year
tradition of athleticism and altruism returns Saturday morning, as up to 50
teams of breast-cancer survivors and supporters take on the waters of the Black
River for the Big Blue Dragon Boat Festival. A partnership between Mayo Clinic
Health System and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater La Crosse…Funds raised
by paddlers…support both the Center for Breast Care and healthy living programs
at local Boys & Girls Clubs. During the past six years, the event has
brought in $360,000.

WKBT La
Crosse, Boys
and Girls Clubs of greater La Crosse prepare for 2019 Big Blue Dragon Boat
festival by Jordan Fremstad — Fifty teams are preparing for a 300-meter
race in the 2019 Big Blue Dragon Boat Festival.
Children from the Boys and Girls Club are preparing for this weekend's
race. They are recognizing the importance of teamwork. "What does it take?
A lot of spirit, a lot of energy and drive," said Sue Karpinski,
well-being specialist with Mayo Clinic Health System.

Eau
Claire Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire man survives 2 heart events in 1
year — You can call Keith Glasshof the “comeback kid.” The 79-year-old Eau
Claire resident came back from heart disease twice in one year. Glasshof was
visiting his daughter in Milwaukee when an April snowstorm dumped eight inches
of snow. Glasshof shoveled the driveway and went for a walk. That’s when he
says something felt a little funny. “I didn’t feel any pain,” Glasshof says. “I
just felt different across the top of my chest.” Glasshof resolved to call his
primary care physician, Dr. Randall Casper, at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau
Claire when he got home.

WEAU Eau
Claire, Telemedicine could be one way to
improve rural health care — In La
Crosse, one of the ways Gundersen Health System and Mayo Clinic Health
System-Franciscan Healthcare are addressing the issue is by telemedicine. Where
patients in rural areas can see specialists or doctors remotely by webcam and
other specialized equipment. "Telehealth has the promise of delivering
cutting edge technology in healthcare to people who live in remote areas, from
prevention screening all the way to the end of life. And if we can leverage
technology to do that, it's better for patients," said Mayo Clinic Health
System Southwest Region Vice President Dr. Paul Mueller.

HealthDay,Is Interval Training the Fountain of Youth? by Len Canter — HIIT has many benefits, not the least of which is being able to get the results of a regular 30-minute workout with less heavy exertion and making exercise more enjoyable. Mayo Clinic researchers found an even greater plus. There's nothing like HIIT to stave off the aging process, thanks to changes it creates at the cell level, effects that can't be achieved with any kind of medicine. What's more, as positive as the changes were for younger people studied, they were even greater among people over 65. Additional coverage:U.S. News & World Report

U.S. News
& World Report, Measles Vaccination in Other Countries: A
Different View by Lisa Esposito — Dr. Robert Jacobson, a primary care
pediatrician at Mayo Clinic and medical director of the immunization programs
for primary care practices within Mayo Clinic Health System in Minnesota,
described what does and doesn't work to improve vaccination uptake. Research
shows that recommendations from pediatricians and other clinicians do make a
difference, Jacobson said, and stronger recommendations work better. A
presumptive attitude by the doctor or nurse that immunization is part of the
health care visit with kids and parents is more persuasive than being tentative
in suggesting vaccination, experts say. Some well-intentioned approaches have
been less successful, Jacobson noted.

U.S. News & World Report, A Patient’s Guide to Parkinson’s Disease — For Laurada Byers, the 70-year-old founder of the Russell Byers Charter School in Philadelphia, the problems started with a foot that seemed to have a mind of its own…“Nobody ever told me that I shouldn’t take the pill with food,” but that’s exactly what she was doing. The proteins in the food she was eating were interfering with the efficacy of the medication, “essentially canceling each other out.” Because it seemed the medication wasn’t working, and the cause of her symptoms remained elusive, Byers went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for further testing. Once there, she says she “had the shortest visit in the history of the Mayo. I walked into this doctor’s office and he asked me to walk down the hall. After he saw me walk, he said, ‘yes, you have Parkinson’s.’” Taking her medication well away from meal times made it much more effective, and she says her case has progressed relatively slowly and hasn’t been as severe as some.

Everyday
Health, Undiagnosed Sleep Apnea Linked to
Accelerated Aging, New Study Finds
by Katherine Lee — “The findings add to the growing list of reasons to treat
sleep apnea,” notes Eric Olson, MD, a sleep medicine specialist at the Mayo
Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Sleep apnea has been linked to an array of
cardiovascular and neurobehavioral problems, and this study shows another
significant health problem that is linked to this sleep disorder, he says.
“It’s a good start, [but] it needs to be replicated for more patients.”

Business
Insider, The best hospitals in the US, ranked by
Clarrie Feinstein — To make the list, the hospitals have performed at a high
standard, improving the lives of many. Read on to see the top 20 hospitals in
the US, according to US News. …1. Mayo Clinic: The Mayo Clinic is located in
Rochester, Minnesota and was founded in 1889. Mayo Clinic Health System now
owns 19 hospitals in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. According to US News, Mayo Clinic is
nationally ranked in 15 adult specialties and seven pediatric specialties.

Runner’s
World, Do
You Walk Fast Enough to Ward Off an Early Death? by Jordan Smith — Do you
always pass slow walkers on the sidewalk, even if you are not in any real
hurry? That may bode well for your lifespan, according to new research
published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. In
the study, researchers took self-reported walking speeds and body mass indexes
(BMI) of nearly 475,000 participants, and followed up with them for nearly
seven years. There were around 12,800 deaths in that time.

American
Medical Association, Why student-loan forgiveness is making
primary care more attractive by Timothy M. Smith — The U.S. physician
shortfall could reach as high as 122,000 doctors by 2032, say estimates issued
by the Association of American Medical Colleges this spring. As many as 55,200
of these could be primary care physicians, pointing to the need to better
understand what drives medical school graduates to choose one specialty over
another. A recent study of graduating osteopathic medical students starts to do
just that, indicating that increased educational debt directly influences physician
practice choices while student-loan repayment and forgiveness programs can
encourage new physicians to choose primary care specialties…. The “analysis showed that incentives to enter
primary care can substantially help shape graduates’ choices,” says the study,
written by senior author Kenneth G. Poole Jr., MD, of the Mayo Clinic in
Scottsdale, Arizona, along with physician colleagues from Mayo, University of
Kansas Medical Center, Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine and University
of Texas Southwestern.

Yahoo!
Finance, New Transitional Care Programs Expected to
Benefit Rural Residents Across Idaho — The Idaho Hospital Association
provides an endorsement of Allevant Solutions, LLC, as it recognizes a need and
an opportunity for member hospitals to provide this benefit to local
patients. Modeled on the Mayo Clinic's
successful efforts in Wisconsin and Minnesota and created by Mayo pulmonologist
and Allevant Medical Director, Mark Lindsay, M.D., the program is designed to
provide access to high quality post-acute services to rural America, the most
persistently underserved area of modern healthcare.

Government
Executive, America’s Loneliness Epidemic: A Risk to
Individuals and Organizations by Michael Stallard — The power of connection
is on full display at Mayo Clinic, America’s top-ranked hospital and arguably
the best hospital in the world. From the time of its founding in 1889, Mayo
Clinic has been intentional about cultivating connection and community. Dr.
Charlie Mayo, one of the earliest leaders, communicated an attitude that valued
connection and warned about the dangers of isolation when he stated: “Our
failures as a profession are the failures of individualism, the result of
competitive medicine. It must be done by collective effort.” One of the ways
this is manifest is in Mayo Clinic’s practice of compensating physicians
through paying a salary rather than by an activity-based system.

Hospitality
Net, The
Future of Medical Spas Explored — …This same holistic approach, striving to
optimize the guest experience at each touchpoint, has enabled Lisa Clarke of
the Destination Medical Center's Economic Development Agency to overhaul the
infrastructure surrounding Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The clinic
itself had an outstanding reputation but lacked hoteliers to provide a safe
haven between treatments and an accessible, engaging environment to detract
from the physical and emotional burden of undergoing treatment.

Washington
Times, Brain
chipping for good -- brain chipping for bad by Cheryl K. Chumley — The Mayo
Clinic, working with Medtronic Plc., recently tested and published findings of
a device that monitors the brain’s electrical current and determines the
strength of the memories that are being generated. If the electrical current
down memory lane doesn’t seem strong enough — if the memory seems as if it
isn’t receiving enough electricity to withstand time — the device gives a tiny
zap. The signal is strengthened. Researchers found the Mayo device regularly
boosted the memories of human test subjects, who were given before-after word
recall quizzes, between 15% and 18%.

WXIA Atlanta, Why do we experience nightmares? by Jerry Carnes — There’s nothing worse than a nightmare that jars you from a good night’s sleep and keeps you awake wondering “why?” According to Dr. Pablo Castillo, a neurologist specializing in sleep medicine with the Mayo Clinic, 5% of all adults have nightmares once a week. About one-third of all people experience a nightmare sometime during their childhood…“Nightmares are a REM sleep phenomena and often occur in the second half of the night,” says Dr. Castillo.

HIT
Consultant, Fundamental Surgery Appoints Mayo Clinic
Surgeon to Global Medical Panel by Fred Pennic — Today, Fundamental
Surgery, the innovative surgical training platform that combines virtual
reality with haptics (the sense of touch), announced Dr. David R. Farley as the
newest member of their Global Medical Panel. Dr. Farley is a surgical
consultant in the Department of Surgery at Mayo Clinic, who holds the academic
rank of professor of surgery, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science with
a focus on general, endocrine, breast and minimally invasive surgery disciplines…
FundamentalVR announced a three-year strategic collaboration and joint
development agreement with Mayo Clinic, the U.S. leading academic medical
center, which will see both companies jointly develop market-leading surgical
VR simulation and education products.

Becker’s
Spine Review, Minnesota seeks to expand stem cell
research through state initiative — 4 insights by Eric Oliver —
Regenerative Medicine Minnesota is a bipartisan effort to improve research,
technology, education and patient access to regenerative medicine-based
treatments…Andre Terzic, MD, PhD, director of the Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo
Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine, said the grants work to support the
future of healthcare. "Minnesota is being recognized as the Silicon Valley
of regenerative medicine," Dr. Terzic said.

Becker’s GI
& Endoscopy, 12 GI-focused ASCs, centers opened in the
first half of 2019 by Rachel Popa — Here are 12 GI-focused ASCs opened or
announced in the first half of the year…8. Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic
opened a gastroenterology center on the St. Mary's Hospital portion of its
campus.

India Times, Solution
For Failing Memory? Surgically Implanted Brain Chips Coming Very Soon by
Gwyn D’Mello — Last year, two groups working one this problems posted some
amazing results with these kinds of memory-aid devices. Their work could do
wonders to help head-trauma victims recover their short term memory
capabilities In a video from one trial at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, a
patent is subjected to a basic word memory test. However, he's dejected when
he's only able to recall 3 of the 12 words told to him. Miraculously though, in
a second trial, he manages to recite all 12 words without hesitation. "No
kidding, you got all of them!" a researcher in the video says. This device
is the work of Michael Kahana, a professor of psychology at the University of
Pennsylvania, in partnership with medical technology company Medtronic Plc.
When connected to the left temporal cortex, it monitors electrical activity in
the brain and forecasts whether a lasting memory will be created.

Times of
India, Weight
loss: Can you simply lose weight by standing? — As per a study headed by Dr
Francisco Lopez-Jimenez of preventive cardiology at the Mayo Clinic with a
participation of more than 1000 people, it was observed that standing accounts
for more calories burned than sitting. By standing, a person burns about 0.15
more calories per minute. This means that a person weighing 65 kilos will lose
54 calories if he stands for 6 hours every day.

Calgary
Herald, Keenan:
Why men should learn to forgive by Tom Keenan — A recent Mayo Clinic
newsletter listed a wide range of physical benefits that can come from
forgiving someone. These include lower blood pressure, a stronger immune
system, and improved heart health. On the mental health side, forgiveness may
bring healthier relationships, fewer symptoms of depression and improved
self-esteem.

Maclean’s (Canada), The
world is broken—and human kindness is the only solution by Anne Kingston —
From politics to health care to economics, a rising movement is calling for
compassion as a remedy for systems on the brink…;.Mayo Clinic endocrinologist
Victor Montori makes a more forceful call for insurrection in his 2017 book Why
We Revolt: A Patient Revolution for Careful and Kind Care, a scathing critique
of “industrial medicine” that argues health care has been co-opted by economic
interests. (He founded The Patient Revolution, a nonprofit dedicated to
advancing careful and kind patient care, in 2016.) The problem isn’t only
greed, Montori says; it’s a fixation on performance standards. Yet performance
metrics also pave the way for change, evident in acceptance of mindfulness and
now, increasingly, compassion.

MedPage
Today, Clinical
Challenges: Cemiplimab in Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma by Andrew
Bowser — The latest data on cemiplimab (Libtayo) confirm its effectiveness in
advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) while hinting at a reduced
efficacy in patients who had already undergone multiple surgical procedures --
suggesting a potential benefit for using this checkpoint earlier rather than
later, an expert said at the 2019 meeting of the American Society of Clinical
Oncology. "This challenges some of the standard treatment approaches in
oncology for locally advanced CSCC, where we often think about exhausting local
therapies first," said Katharine Andress Rowe Price, MD, of Mayo Clinic,
Rochester, Minnesota, in a podium presentation at the meeting. "These data
would suggest that we should perhaps move treatment with cemiplimab earlier in
the disease course."

MedPage
Today, Long-Term Surveillance Safe for Small
Renal Tumors by Charles
Bankhead — …The results are consistent with those of a Mayo Clinic surveillance
program that has grown to encompass about 600 patients, said Matthew Tollefson,
MD, of Mayo in Rochester, Minnesota. In particular, the Canadian study showed
an annual tumor growth rate of about 2 mm, and the tumor growth rate in the
Mayo program has ranged between 1 and 3 mm. “Basically, I would say that this
study is supportive of this approach that has been catching some steam to
observe small renal masses,” he told MedPage Today. “Studies like this support
the importance of recognizing that the majority of these small tumors are very
indolent and can be managed over quite a long period without any actual
treatment,” Tollefson added.

MedPage
Today, Expert:
Science Shaky on Cannabis for OSA by Salynn Bowles — Although one state has
authorized medical cannabis as a treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA),
the science supporting it remains shaky and physicians should be very cautious
about recommending it, a sleep medicine specialist said here. "The
evidence is starting to come in, but it is still limited," said Kannan
Ramar, MD, of the Mayo Clinic Rochester, speaking Tuesday at SLEEP 2019, the
joint meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and the Sleep
Research Society. Ramar was lead author of an official AASM position statement
published last year, issued after Minnesota approved OSA as a qualifying
condition for medical cannabis.

Healio, Parathyroidectomy
improves depression symptoms in primary hyperparathyroidism — A cohort of
adults with primary hyperparathyroidism and depression experienced an
improvement in both somatic and cognitive depressive symptoms after undergoing
successful parathyroidectomy…“Investigations demonstrating improved
neurocognitive function after parathyroidectomy have not found a consistent
association with preoperative biochemical parameters of [primary
hyperparathyroidism],” Ann E. Kearns, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine
in the division of endocrinology, diabetes, nutrition and metabolism at the
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.

Healio, IBD,
type I diabetes may predispose individuals to RA — Findings from a
time-dependent analysis of comorbidities in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
and healthy controls suggest that inflammatory bowel disease and type I
diabetes may predispose individuals to RA, according to recent data presented
at the EULAR Annual Congress. Vanessa Kronzer, MD, of the Mayo Clinic School of
Graduate Medical Education in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues investigated
821 patients with RA who were matched with three controls each.

Healio,What
imaging is best to diagnose the source of hip-spine pathology symptoms? —
The most commonly used imaging is a standing and a sitting lateral of the
pelvis and spine. This could be done with standard radiographic techniques or
with advanced 2-D or 3-D imaging techniques, such as those available with EOS
Imaging equipment. Additional information may be gotten by having the patient
obtain a third radiograph that is done while the patient is leaning forward.
Finally, some companies offer patient-specific planning for THA with
information obtained from CT.

Genome Web, Regeneron, Mayo Ink Pact to Sequence, Genotype 100K Patient Samples — Mayo Clinic and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals are collaborating to sequence the exomes and genotype 100,000 DNA samples from patients who have consented to partake in research and have submitted samples to Mayo’s biobank. "Research findings from this database may lead to new knowledge about which genes put people at risk for certain diseases, and which ones affect how people respond to treatment," Keith Stewart, director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine, said in a statement.

If you would like to be added to the weekly distribution list, send a note to Emily Blahnik with this subject line: SUBSCRIBE to Mayo Clinic in the News.

To unsubscribe:To remove your name from the global distribution list, send an email to Emily Blahnik with the subject: UNSUBSCRIBE from Mayo Clinic in the News.